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Meatless Mondays

As a flexatarian, my diet dictates that most days are meatless, nut just Mondays.  However, I realize that eating meatless even one day a week will be a big lifestyle change for some of you.

The 5 W’s:

Who?

Well that was easy.  You!  And me, of course.

What?

Skip eating meat once a week, on Mondays.

Where:

Doesn’t so much matter, wherever  you want to eat.  I think home is great, but many ethnic offerings are meatless by design, so restaurants will be an easy choice.

When:

Weren’t you listening?  I said Mondays!

Why Meatless?

According to MeatlessMonday.com, there are some great reasons to go meatless, both for your personal health and the health of the planet.  Read all about it!

Personal Health:

1.  Beans, peas, lentils, seeds, and nuts have little to no saturated fats.  That can help keep cholesterol in the appropriate range!

2. Meat has no fiber.  Fiber helps keep you feeling full, so you eat less.

3. Beans, peas, lentils are high in fiber, protein, folic acid, magnesium, zinc, and iron.

Environmental Health:

1.  You’ll reduce your carbon footprint.  The meat industry generates about 20% of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

2. You’ll minimize usage of potable water.  It’s estimated that 1800-2500 gallons of water is needed to produce a single pound of beef.

3.  You’ll help reduce dependence on fossil fuels.  Feed lot beef requires almost twenty times as much fossil fuel energy as plant-based proteins.

Why Monday?

Monday is the first day of the week for most of us, the day that we look to with dread.  I like what MeatlessMonday.com has  to say the best, though: “Monday is the call to action built in to every calendar each week. And if this Monday passes you by, next week is another chance to go meatless“!

So What Do I Eat?

I thought you might ask!  Below is a day’s worth of some of my favorite meatless recipes.

Fresh Cranberry Muffins

Muffin batter is universal, so if you don’t like cranberries and orange, switch it up.  I’m a fan of lemon and blueberry, and I absolutely love banana muffins, too.  Recipe modified from MyRecipes.com.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 muffin)
Ingredients

2  cups  whole wheat pastry flour
2/3  cup  sucanat
2  teaspoons  baking powder
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1  cup  chopped fresh cranberries
2/3  cup  2% reduced-fat milk or nut milk
1/4  cup  butter or coconut oil
1  teaspoon  grated orange rind
1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
1  large egg, lightly beaten (or 1 T. ground flax and ¼ c. water, allowed to sit for 10 minutes)
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Note: These muffins freeze well. Bake them ahead, cool completely, and store in freezer bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature. Reheat in aluminum foil at 300º for 10 to 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

You may think this salad from MeatlessMonday.com sounds weird, but that’s OK.  It’s similar to one I had at Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney and I tell you, I almost licked my plate.  I don’t like beets prepared most other ways, but this salad is out of this world.  Give it a shot!

Beet, Pear & Endive Salad

Serves 4
1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 medium beets, boiled, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 large Bartlett pears (about 1 pound), quartered and thinly sliced
2 heads of Belgian endive, thinly sliced crosswise
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
In a large bowl, whisk together the apple juice concentrate, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper to make the dressing.
Add the cooked beets, pears and endive, then toss to combine.
Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top and enjoy.

Chili is one of my favorite vegetarian recipes, I never miss the meat with the heartiness of lentils, the richness of tomatoes, and the gentle heat of cumin, chili powder, and cayenne.  This recipe from Dr. Ben Kim is especially wonderful if you don’t like kidney beans (like me)!

Lentil Chili

Ingredients:
One pound of dried lentils, any color
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups diced onion
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne (optional, and only for those who like really spicy chili)
8 cups vegetable broth or other broth

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer over low to low-medium heat until lentils are tender – takes about 30 to 40 minutes.
Enjoy this delicious, protein-rich chili on its own, or with a bowl of rice, quinoa, or potatoes.

Don’t like my recipes?  No worries, here are some others to check out!

Posted by heather on Feb 15th, 2010 and filed under Diet & Nutrition, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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